I feel it's worth mentioning that today's was the worst hangover I've ever had in my life. Headache that felt like I firecrackers in my skull. Stomach . . . queasy most of the day. Just an all-around bad time.

When I was younger, I didn't get hangovers. Not at all. Back in college I would drink and drink, then eventually I'd pass out. Well, pass out isn't exactly right. I'd fall down and be unable to get back up; I'd still be lucid. My friends would help me back to my room and in the morning I'd be right as rain. I also never used to throw up from drinking too much.

Then after college, I was visiting a friend in Huntsville, TX. I drank Jaeger, Purple Passion (she was still in college and that drink was the fad), some vodka and an entire bottle of Barenjaeger. And it was hot and humid, as deep East Texas tends to be. Just to show you how drunk I was, I spent the evening making out with a girl.

Well, I was sick as a dog and not just from the girl kisses (I'll skip the gory details except to say that the girl [not the make out girl] who was putting me up for the evening [my friend, Jill, hooked up at the party and left me] drove me around East Texas in the middle of the night for nearly two hours so I could stick my head out the window and try to sober up . . . or at least stop puking). And I woke up to my very first hangover; a real doozy.

After eating a couple of crackers and half a glass of water (then immediately throwing it all back up), I vowed never, ever to drink that much again.

Even then I knew that was bullshit.

So ever since that day, the floodgates, so to speak, have been opened. Not that that has stopped me from indulging, mind you. I just am better prepared for the consequences.

But last night still caught me a little off-guard.

See, I didn't really think I'd had too much. In fact, I was fine until we left the restaurant (I'm going to ask the boys if they thought I was wrecked before then). But once we got upstairs, everything was a blur. I blame Coach Bob and the tequila he forced me to drink. I'm sure it had nothing to do with the bottles of wine I consumed around it. Or the fact that I didn't have much dinner (there weren't too many vegetarian options).

Today, in an effort to soothe my headache and queasy stomach, I had a big plate of fresh fruit. Mango, banana, green and red apples. And I'll tell you, it sure seemed to help. Of course it could also have been the aspirin and tons of water. But I'm going to give credit to the fresh mango.

I've almost finished the Ed McBain book I mentioned before. Ice. This is only the second novel of his I've read, but I'm loving it. I want to run out and read everything else I can find of his. He really captures the traditional hard-boiled detective tone in his books. And he does it without sacrificing the characters. They aren't cardboard cut-outs like some of the characters in books by less talented authors.

I'll probably knock it out before I go to bed. Luckily tomorrow is a lazy day. Oh, shit. It's also Father's Day.